His Assurance (Assured Distraction Book 3) Read online

  “Hi yourself, Mr. Rock Star.” I kissed her cute nose and sat her back down. “We moved out to the pool a few minutes ago.”

  “Shit. Six hot women in tiny little bikinis. I simply don’t know if I can control myself around them all,” I said as I walked into the house.

  “No one said ‘all’ was an offer. This is all you’ll need for the next two weeks. I’ll make sure of it.” She reached around and pinched my butt.

  “Whoa, my little cherry pie, that’s my job to leave marks on your fine ass. You’ll be paying for that later.” I winked at her.

  “Is that a promise or a threat?” The look she gave me made me want to flip her over and leave a bright red handprint for all of those girls at the pool to see, but I decided against it.

  “Oh, it’s on babe. It’s on when we are alone. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of your sister. I don’t know her well enough. Now, if the band were out there, that would be a different story.” She shook her ass as she walked in front of me, and I couldn’t resist a little love tap to light her up a little. I wanted her to think about it until we were alone.

  “What the hell!” She spun around with a mischievous look, stepped up and grabbed him through my shorts, squeezed him a little then pumped up and down a couple of times.

  “You shouldn’t have, cherry. You really shouldn’t have teased him like that.” Retaliation was on. I supposed she believed me.

  “Gunner!” she shrieked and took off through the French doors to the patio. Of course, I had to take off after her. It only took about three good strides, and I was on her. I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold.

  “You were the one wanting to play rough, my little cherry pie.” I chased her around the pool a couple of times, swatting her softly, and the girls gave her hell about it. It ended when she found herself trapped on the diving board, and before she could say stop, we were headed to the bottom of the lagoon water.

  I held her there for only a second and then pulled us both to the surface. She hit and splashed trying to get away from me, and I thought I saw panic in her eyes. “Stop, cherry. I’ll swim us out of here.” She calmed down, and I took her to the shallow end of the pool. “You can swim, right?”

  “Yes, I can swim. I’m just not great at it. I can well enough to save myself, though.”

  Now I felt like the bad guy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She stood and put her hands on my shoulders, pushing hard, and I slipped under easily thinking I deserved her little bit of revenge. When I came up, she pushed down again smiling. This time, I stayed down, though. I could stay under water a long time. Between running and swimming in my pool, I was in great shape for it. After I was there over a minute, she started trying to pull me up, but I didn’t let her. She finally came down to me, and I laughed out loud under water at her.

  “You bastard,” she said when we both surfaced. “I thought something was wrong with you.”

  I laughed and wrapped my arms around her uncovered waist pulling her to me. “Me? You’re the one who claimed ignorance. You can swim, can’t you?”

  She wrestled out of my hold and took off down the pool yelling, “Like a fish!”

  When we both reached the deepest part, I captured her under the diving board with my hands on both sides of her body under the water. She wrapped hers around my neck and kissed me. Things heated up quickly under water when she wrapped her legs around my body.

  “Do you know how badly I want to strip you down and wrap those legs around my neck so I can slide my tongue through those pretty lips, dipping in and out of there with my hands on your fine ass for leverage?”

  “Gunner, there are five pairs of eyes pretending not to be watching every move we make.”

  “Don’t care, cherry pie. I want to indulge in some of your dessert.”

  “Then we can go in the house, or you can wait for dessert after dinner.”

  “The house is a no-go at this point since I’m sporting a major boner right now, and these shorts would do nothing to hide it, so it looks like it’ll have to be a good pool fuck.”

  “NO!” she yelled out as I slid my hands down inside her bottoms.

  Journey sat up. “God, you two. Do you want us to go in the house so you can fuck her already? Oh wait, you have a room. Use it! You’re making me horny watching y’all, and that’s just…ewww.”

  “Well, shit.” I let her go because now the idea that Lola’s little sister just said fuck and horny knowing she was talking about us made my dick shrivel like the water was ice cold.

  I never realized how difficult it was for five college girls to get dressed and ready to go for the evening until that evening. Between hair, make-up, and clothes, five bedrooms looked like an H&M dressing rooms after a one-day sale.

  “My God, Journey, it’s a festival, not the damn prom,” I said as she curled her hair.

  “We have to go looking good. Who knows who we will see? Do you think Gunner will get us backstage?”

  “If he said he would, I’m sure he will do his best to make it happen. I know we have VIP tickets because he’s got wristbands for you all for both weekends.”

  “Where is he, anyway?”

  “He’s downstairs playing video games on the big screen.” Men, they never grew tired of playing games.

  “Well, I hope you didn’t let us interrupt your little party in the pool today. Honestly, though, that was disgusting to watch, Lola. I mean, I realize you like the guy a lot, but we do not get off on watching how much,” Journey finished the statement as Ivy walked through the door, and I suppose she felt the need to join in on the conversation.

  “Yeah, I agree. Unless…you would consider a threesome, and then I would be happy to join in. You know I’ve been reading about the band online, and apparently he and Carter are fairly famous for their escapades with several women at once,” she said all of this with a straight face while she worked with the curls in her hair.

  “Let me assure you; I will never be sharing him with any of y’all or anyone else as long as we are together. What he chooses to do when he’s out on the road is all on him, but while I’m here, that won’t be the issue.” I needed to talk seriously with Gunner about this. We hadn’t said anything about seeing each other exclusively for the time I was here. I assumed that was the way it would be since he was so excited about me coming up. I knew I needed more clarification because I was not into sharing, ever.

  I had put off my confession about our time in Paris, too. He hadn’t pushed the subject of the little white lies I told him when we were together there, but I owed him that much. I guess I needed to make time for that talk.

  Journey turned from the mirror and looked at me. “What are you talking about? Have you seen the way the guy looks at you? It’s not the look of a guy who’s going on the prowl for other women.”

  “It may not be right now, but he’ll be tired of me after these two weeks, and we’ll end up going our separate ways. Besides, I have to find a job, and who knows where I’ll land the one I want.”

  “Oh, please, Lola. The guy is totally into you. He’s not going to be over you that fast.”

  “He’s not looking for a long-term girlfriend. I know the way this works. They travel more months than they are home, and it’s a new girl every night. After we were together in Paris, I only heard from him a handful of times, and then it stopped. I’m sure he found plenty more beautiful women at every venue in Europe, and they’ve been on another tour in the U.S. since then.” The idea behind it made me sick to my stomach, but I knew what I was getting into even if he was the one to reach out to me before I got here. The truth was I wasn’t looking for a long-term boyfriend either. I didn’t know where I was going to settle down. I might not even be in Texas. I could go anywhere and be a nurse.

  “That’s enough of my love life. I’m not going to let this ruin the two weeks I have with him. Let’s get going and see what the five of y’all can scare up at ACL. I’m sure the park is crawling with
hot guys just waiting to meet you all, or maybe you’ll find your own rock star to share the week with. Did y’all hear Gunner say most of these bands find other gigs in the area since many of them play both weekends?”

  “I knew that, but I don’t know if the rest of them do,” Journey added. “I’ll have to be sure to tell the other three.”

  “Yeah, I think I want a different one every night, though. I might not ever have this chance again. I’ll play the good groupie for a week.” Ivy gave her eye makeup a final once over and walked out of the room.

  “Do you really think she’ll do the whole band groupie thing, Journey? That’s kind of nasty.”

  “You never know with her. She likes men… a lot of them. She’s gotten around quite a bit on campus.” Since the girls all attended the same university, I thought Journey and the others probably knew the truth about her.

  “I hope she takes a lot of precautions then.” After watching what those groupies were doing that night with Assured Distraction backstage, I was afraid for her.

  “She’s a grown woman and has been taking care of herself for a long time. I’m sure she can handle whatever these guys throw at her, Lola. Don’t worry about her. Worry about having your own good time with that sexy guy who wants you.” She smiled at me in the mirror.

  “He is very sexy. I think I’ll find him and see just how much while we wait on y’all,” I said to her as I walked out of the room.

  “You’re the nasty one.” She threw the brush at me and hit the wall by the door as I rushed through it.

  I found him engrossed in some war game sitting on a big, round comfy oversized chair. As I crawled up beside him, he scooted over to make room for me but never took his eyes off the screen. I watched him while he moved his arms around and yelled obscenities at it as though that was going to make him a better shot against the other army.

  Since I didn’t have a clue exactly what he was doing, I decided to do a little moving around myself. Only I wanted to spend my time moving around him. I slid my bare foot to his and moved it up his leg that stuck out from his shorts while I walked my fingernails over the colorful tattoos on his arm. I found a red dragon with claws that I hadn’t seen before. I traced the sharp talons lightly with my nails, and I caught his body as it responded with a light shiver.

  “Sorry, am I bothering you?” I looked up with my most innocent look, hoping to capture his attention.

  “No, not at all.” He still never took his eyes off the screen.

  Obviously, I wasn’t doing something right. He yelled at one of his fellow warriors on the screen who caused him to lose a life or something because he ranted about having burned a life for no reason. I slid my toes lightly up and down his leg while I continued stroking his beautiful arm. The oriental tattoos fascinated me. I had to remember to ask him about them later. Not getting the attention I was seeking with my nails, I decided to up the stakes a little with my mouth.

  I leaned into his arm, making sure my breasts were divided over his forearm and started up his bicep with little kisses. I swirled my tongue over some of the lines, leaving warm wet patches as I worked my way to his shoulder. I went ever so slowly, and by the time I got to the top, I realized he wasn’t moving anymore. Without taking my lips off him, I looked up to his face and found him watching my every move. When our eyes met, he drilled me an emerald green look so intense I didn’t know whether to move again or not.

  Before I could leave another kiss or touch my tongue to his hot skin, he flipped me over and captured me under him, devouring my lips with his own. The kiss was intense and spoke of the carnal plans he intended for me. His khaki-covered thigh wedged between my bare ones since my shorts rode up in the move. Without ending the kiss, he slid his hand up my tank top and lightly pinched my hardened nipple causing a moan to escape into his mouth. The sound seemed to push him to want more, and he moved his thigh against me harder, rubbing back and forth at the apex.

  “A-hem!” Little laughs came from the doorway of the den. “If you two are through dry humping on the loveseat, I think we are ready to go.”

  Gunner stopped the kiss immediately and put his head down beside mine to hide my obvious embarrassment. He slowly removed his hand from my tank which happened to be on the side they were standing, and whispered in my ear, “Sorry I guess I got carried away but know this, we will finish later, alone.” He rolled off me with his hard dick pushing at the front of his shorts. There was no way to hide it, so he didn’t even try.

  The girls stood there staring like they had never seen a hard-on before, and I wanted to crawl under the big chair. He might not care that they saw how big he was, but I was dying. I couldn’t get any words out of my mouth, and even if I could, what would I say?

  Ivy topped off the situation. “Nice wood, big guy. Too bad you have to waste it.” She turned and started for the front door while the others laughed and followed her out. “We’ll see y’all in the car.”

  When the last one shut the door behind her, I turned over and screamed into the cushion. I don’t know if it was from the embarrassment or the sexual frustration that I would suffer for the rest of the evening in the park.

  “Uh, I guess we should go.” He walked to the door while I stood and slid on my sandals.

  I looked up at him, “I’m sorry. I should have known better.”

  He grabbed me, pulled me to him and wrapped me in a hug with those arms I so enjoyed just minutes before. He kissed my forehead. “No need to apologize. They’re jealous because they know you’re getting some tonight, and they probably aren’t.”

  I had to laugh since I knew he was damn right about one of those.

  Gunner drove the Infiniti since we had a VIP parking pass to get behind the scenes. A crowd formed around the usual ACL signs, and the music lovers migrated through the scanners and security at a steady pace. Of course the scalpers, with their questionable armbands, openly hawked or offered to buy from every person who passed them. Since 75,000 people were expected to attend the two-weekend event, everyone assumed there would be throngs of music lovers at every turn around Zilker Park.

  “I read that cell service was impossible in here,” Abbie offered as we stepped from the car. “I can see why now.”

  “Yeah, you might have to step away from the hoards of people if you expect to get a call,” Gunner told everyone. “Texts usually work okay.” He looked at the girls, and I could tell he was trying to decide what to do. “So girls, do y’all want to go have some fun and meet us later? I’m sure the bands we want to hear might be different from the ones you are dying to see.”

  “Absolutely. You two go have fun; we’ll meet up later,” Journey said. We each had our schedules on our phones. With so many great bands playing, it was hard to make a perfect schedule. We knew we would only see bits and pieces of shows to catch all of our favorites.

  “With these VIP bands, you can go right to the front so that will be easier to see several in one time slot,” Hunter said as he handed them each an armband and reminded them not to take them off while they were there. “There’s also a lounge for VIP to eat and hang out.” He pointed the direction they needed to go for it.

  “I guess we’ll see y’all later then. We’ll text if we need something, or you can send me the list y’all made up.” I told them.

  “We’ll be fine, Mom and Dad. Promise.” Journey blew a kiss as they walked away.

  “Funny. Be safe,” I yelled at them without getting a response.

  I looked at Gunner, who was wearing all of his hair under his baseball hat and aviator Ray Bans. We both prayed no one noticed him. Neither of us wanted any drama this evening.

  “What do you want to do, Gunner?”

  He looked in my direction, and I couldn’t see his eyes. I could tell so much about him when I could see the color, so I knew it was going to bother me having them covered. He stooped down and put his mouth next to my ear. “My little cherry pie, what I want to do is take you back home and fuck you good and plenty on th
at round couch, but I think you’ll nix that plan.”

  I smiled. “You would be wrong about that because your plan sounds perfect to me. Buuut,” I drew out the word making it more than one syllable, “I don’t think leaving now is a good idea.”

  “Well, shit. Somehow I knew you were going to say that.” He took my hand and led me to the nearest big stage. “Let’s go see who’s backstage already.”

  “You mean we can just walk backstage, and no one will stop us?” My interest perked up quickly.

  He produced two badges and handed me one. “With these, we can do whatever the hell we want.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

  “Way to go, Mr. I-Can-Be-Sneaky.” I raised up and gave him a little kiss.

  Backstage rocked like nothing I had ever witnessed. Comfortable areas provided spaces for the bands to chill while waiting to perform. The large stages were for the bigger names playing at night. Gunner knew the members of many of the bands, and the ones he didn’t know someone else would introduce us.

  I was super excited when I found out that X Ambassadors were the act before Imagine Dragons. I loved the music of both of these bands. Gunner knew them pretty well since they played a few of the same festivals. He wanted to meet the drummer for Imagine Dragons, and Adam Levine made that happen for him. I think Gunner was doing some fangirling himself when he shook hands with Daniel Platzman.

  The early evening bled into night quickly, and we had never left backstage. It surprised me when a text finally came through from the girls looking for us. We agreed to meet in the VIP area in front of the stage for Imagine Dragons.

  The area had about fifty people standing around and was the closest you could get to the stage. The performance rocked as we knew it would. The girls loved being close enough to make eye contact with the hot musicians. The park shut down as soon as the last song was over.